San Rafael’s past and present fire employees remember Station 51

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John Diego, 96, sits on his old fire truck, the 1937 American-LaFrance that was parked in front of Fire Station 51 during a gathering of retired and active duty firefighters meeting to reminisce about their work at the old station.

Dan Becker and his son Jack look at a picture of a fire with the vintage fire truck parked in front of Fire Station 51.

Joanne Pendleton, daughter of firefighter Aubrey E. “Jack” Miller, who was killed during a fire in 1960, attended Saturday’s gathering to celebrate Station 51, Her father worked out of the station.

For Steve Block, San Rafael’s Fire Station No. 51 evokes memories of countless hours logged in the building’s communications center and dinners with the station’s crew.

The former dispatcher who worked nine years at the station said the crew became a second family during that time in the C Street hub.

“It’s funny, I remember when ‘American Graffiti’ came out and cruising on Fourth Street was huge, we’d sit outside here on the evenings and watch the cars go by,” said Block, 58, who now lives in Petaluma. “And of course we were guys, so we’d watch the girls.”

Block was one of San Rafael’s past and present firefighters, dispatchers and other department employees who gathered for a reunion Saturday at the historic station before its demolition in upcoming weeks.

Those who worked for the department in past decades caught up, swapping stories of station memories. They also glimpsed at a collection of ladder trucks and equipment used during the station’s history.

“The point of today’s event is because the station’s being torn down,” said San Rafael fire Cpt. Paul Bernard. “It’s a way for the retired guys — people who used to work here, to come by, share their memories of the fire stations and the equipment they used to use here.”

The 100-year-old station will be knocked down and rebuilt as part of a 45,000-square-foot public safety center across the street from City Hall on Fifth Avenue. The project is part of a $72 million plan to improve the city’s aging police and fire stations.

Station 51 employees move from the building on June 21. They will temporarily relocate to mobile buildings stationed in the parking lot behind City Hall. A garage will house one fire engine and an ambulance.

Station administrators have already moved into rented space at the Marin sheriff’s office.

Completion of the public safety center is expected in late 2019.

John Diego, 96, of San Rafael, knows the downtown station well from the three decades spent there before retiring as a captain in 1977.

“One day they get old and you have to tear them down,” he said. “But it’s a shame cause I spent 33 years here.”

The demolition is bittersweet for Joanne Pendleton of Petaluma.

The 74-year-old’s last moments with her father were spent on the station’s balcony.

Her father, firefighter Aubrey E. “Jack” Miller was killed alongside his co-worker William “Sonny” Bottini Jr. while fighting a fire at a used car lot on Fourth Street 1950.

The night before he was killed, Pendleton and her siblings went to dinner with their father. She recalled them sitting on the station’s balcony after dinner.

“We went home and didn’t see him again,” she said.

Pendleton said she is relieved to know the department is saving the station’s balcony for re-use in the new public safety center. It is being preserved, along with the station’s bell, interior spiral staircase, fire pole and flag pole.

Those who attended the reunion were nostalgic over the downtown station’s imminent demolition, but also grateful for much-needed upgrades that are not far away.

The station’s garage, where its engines are kept, is narrow, making it difficult to maneuver vehicles out of, Bernard said.

“When we’re trying to get out of here, response times are a big part of what we do,” he said. “Having those restrictions makes it hard for us to respond quickly, which is very much what we are about. That’s a big issue.”

The second-story dormitory was designed just for men and the station does not have facilities for cleaning or storing medical supplies, as medical emergency services were not offered by the fire department until the 1980s.

“It’s about damn time,” said Bob Hamilton, a retired captain with the department. “This place is a building that used to have horses in it.”

Pendleton also recognized the building’s need for modernization.

“For the safety of the new firemen I know it needs to be done,” she said. “I have pictures I’ll always treasure.”